THE LAIMA STORY began in 1870 when the German business man Theodor Riegert arrived in Latvia and founded Riga’s firs candy factory.
He named the factory after himself “Th. Riegert”, but in 1925 it changed to Laima, after the goddess in Latvian mythology. In spite of tough foreign competition, Laima has kept its position in Latvia and currently exports to more than 15 countries around the world. In addition to its famous chocolate, produced by cocoa beans from Ghana in West Africa, Laima produces bonbons, cookies and lots of other candy.
LAIMA IS INCREASING its share of the global market and would like to expand in the Scandinavian market.
- Scandinavians eat a lot of candy and it would be a lucrative market for us, says Ieva Johnsson.
She believes that Laima’s dark chocolate and the candy Zephyr would be well received in the Scandinavian market. That is why she chose to use them as an attraction when marketing Laima.
- Zephyr, like English marshmallow, is one of our most popular products and comes in many different flavours like vanilla, cranberry and apricot,
dipped in chocolate. Zephyr is low on sugar and ideal for people who are on a diet. Dark chocolate has become more popular, thanks to a more health-conscious attitude, i.e. that dark chocolate is a good alternative.
IIEVA JOHNSSON’S current goal is to get in touch with Scandinavian distributors to introduce Laima. However, so far, she has run into many preconceptions and prejudice about Baltic companies.
- I realised that people have a prejudice against products from the Baltics and believe they are of inferior quality. That is what I have to deal with all the time.
IEVA JOHNSSON HAS LIVED in Sweden for 12 years but she is still surprised to find so much prejudice and lack of urgency in the Scandinavian market. Before she became head of exports at Laima, she worked at Latvijas Balzams (the largest alcohol producer in the Baltics). She tried to introduce the famous Latvian herb liqueur Riga Black Balzam in Scandinavia.
- It is always hard to introduce a new product in a foreign market
compared to the domestic market and since Finland, Norway and Sweden have a liquor retail monopoly, it was even harder.
The introduction to the Scandinavian market was done on ferries between Sweden and Latvia and Finland and Estonia two years ago. Interest in the tasty liqueur grew among ferry travellers.
- However, the large sales volumes are through the Swedish Alcohol Retail Monopoly and subsequently Balzam need to be introduced there, explains Ieva Johnsson.
In certain stores in Norway and Finland, Balzam is on the shelves and Ieva Johnsson expects the same development in Sweden.
- When Swedish companies say “Yes” and you are over the threshold, they are very serious and offer long and steady business relations.
Emelie Ring